Good content marketing is the kind of work that a consumer will want to email to their friend, argues Alexander Jukowitz, in a piece for Ad Age. "If brands want to become media platforms, they have to accept some of the costs of being a publisher," writes Jukowitz. What makes consumers want to share with their friends? Look to Lincoln Motor Co.'s collaboration with Beck and Nokia Music's collaboration with the Sundance Film Festival and production company Somesuch & Co.

While newer channels may attract headlines, email and search won out as the top channels for digital marketers in the Econsultancy/Adestra Email Marketing Industry Census 2013. According to the report, 22 percent of marketers say that email marketing delivers "excellent" ROI, and 44 percent say that think the channel delivers "good" ROI. But email isn't without its challenges. Half of the marketers interviewed for the survey explained that the quality of the email database can be a barrier to the channel. Forty-two percent of people said that a lack of strategy can be a barrier and 23 percent of marketers …

Personalized subject lines in email marketing messages sent to promote Mother's Day gifts increase open rates by 54 percent and transaction rates by 66 percent, compared to emails without personalized subject lines, according to a report from Experian Marketing Services. The report also revealed that 46 percent of Mother's Day email volume is sent within a week of the holiday and that 75 percent of transactions and 80 percent of revenues for the holiday happen within two weeks of the holiday.

Digital startup SavingStar has partnered with third-party benefits provider Edenred to offer employers digital coupons that encourage employees incentives to eat better. Through the NutriSavings business employers can offer employees e-coupons for healthy food options.

Most marketers in India expect that half of their customers will view email marketing messages on their mobile this year. Despite this expectation, only 40 percent of the marketers have a mobile email strategy, according to a new report from Octane Research. The research also concluded that 42 percent of consumers who receive email marketing messages are more likely to make a purchase than those who use SMS.

Adding social sharing buttons to email marketing messages is on the rise and those emails that include these buttons experience higher click-through rates, according to new research from GetResponse. Almost 30 percent of marketers are adding social sharing buttons to emails and emails that include social sharing buttons have click-through rates 158 percent higher than those without.

Google's recent Gmail redesign has been getting mixed reviews. Google claims that the new email update, which allows users to compose messages in a small window in the corner of the inbox, has had a positive response among users who stated "how much easier it is to multitask!" But The Washington Times argues that the update feels more like IM and is a step backward for emails that require a high word count or large attachments.

About half of marketing emails will be opened on a mobile device, according to a report from digital marketing firm Knotice. And consumers are willing to take action directing on their mobile phones. According to a study from email marketing company BlueHornet, two-thirds of consumers said they would make a purchase as a result of an email on their mobile device.

British consumers who use Sky as their Internet providers were not happy when the company switched its email service from Gmail to Yahoo. The customers complained in Sky forums that they were overloaded with email messages that they had previously deleted. Sky said that they are working on the problem and will address the issue.

WriteThat.Name, a technology startup based in Paris, France, has introduced a new tool called AddMe, which allows users to create an email signature and sync it with their contact information which is stored in the WriteThat.Name database. Since the company launched in 2011, it has been helping consumers manage their email address books. The new feature allows members to create an email sginature and add it to their Gmail signature.